Denver Nuggets / NBA

Nuggets late 2012 burst ignited a successful January 2013

January started in December. After a laborious early-season schedule, the Nuggets won two of their final three games of December, including a victory against the Los Angeles Lakers while on a back-to-back set and a road win at Dallas.

These wins, Nuggets coach George Karl said Wednesday, set the tone for a confident January. Denver exited Wednesday's final game of the month 12-3 since the new year arrived.

"I think our versatility has shown up in a lot of different ways," Karl said. "We've won in different ways. The end of December, we started playing good basketball. We beat the Lakers here, Dallas in Dallas and the Clippers on the first day of the month. Our confidence got going by winning some games against the 'A' teams. And I must admit that our mental toughness, even though we've lost to teams like Washington, has been very good with bouncing back. When we do make a mistake or have a mental lapse, we have a toughness to regroup and get back to where we're supposed to be."

Of course, playing at home helped.

The Nuggets, historically, are one of the NBA's best teams at home. And they left the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night with only two home losses in the month, and wins against opponents such as the Clippers, Thunder, Pacers and Warriors.

Too late. Perhaps there's something about star defensive players getting calls — or noncalls — the way star offensive players do. Or, perhaps, the refs just missed it. Either way, Andre Iguodala stole the ball from Indiana's Paul George on Monday with 0.5 seconds left, but the NBA announced Wednesday that video replay showed that Iguodala reached in and fouled George. Iguodala was credited with a steal and the Nuggets won the game, thanks to his foul shot.

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Asked about the league's announcement, Karl pointed out: "Can we call in a foul 30 seconds before that? Can we play he said, she said, point-counterpoint? There was a call probably in the last two minutes that we didn't get."

Footnotes. The Nuggets rested JaVale McGee on Wednesday against the Rockets to help him recover from a shin injury. He didn't play in the previous game against Indiana. ... Denver's Julyan Stone, the third point guard, is headed to the D-League to get some playing time. Stone will play for the Iowa Energy. He hasn't played much since returning from hip surgery. ... Second-year forward Kenneth Faried will play in the rookie-sophomore game during NBA All-Star Weekend. "To me it was somewhat of a no-brainer, well deserved and earned," Karl said. "I know he will represent us well. He is one of the young players of that class that is exciting. For a guy to come in and, in a lot of ways, save our season last year and become the foundation of our team this year is pretty impressive from my standpoint."

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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